Diagnostic Laboratory Section

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GLUCOSE

Hyperglycemia

• Diabetes mellitus – Fasting blood glucose values over 200mg/dL is generally diagnostic for dog and cat. Values under 200 mg/dL consistently over normal range would recommend for glucose tolerance test(GGT) further for confirmation.
  • Intravenous Glucose Tolerance Test
    • Fast for 24 hours.
    • Take blood sample and estimate the fasting blood glucose level.
    • Give 0.5 g of glucose per kilogram of body weight as a 50% solution after obtaining a pre injection blood sample.
    • Take blood samples at 30 min intervals for 3 hour and estimate the blood glucose values.
    • Interpretation:
  • Normal animal - blood glucose returns to fasting level in 60 to 90 min.
  • Diabetic animal - takes more than 90 min to return to the fasting level.
• Post prandial - for up to 4 hour after a meal.
• Epinephrine release.
• Pancreatitis.
• Convulsions
• Cushing syndrome or administration of corticosteroids.
• Administration of drugs – general anesthesia, morphine, strychnine, etc.,
• Liver disease in some cases.

Hypoglycemia

• Hyperinsulinism
• Glycogen storage disease
• Functional hypoglycemia
• Adrenocortical insufficiency
• Hypothyroidism
• Starvation
• Malabsorption
• Hepatic disease in terminal stages
• Bovine and ovine ketosis
• Hypoglycemia of baby pigs.